Posted by
Ed Lilly on Friday, March 21, 2008 3:02:02 PM
My seven year old was doing her homework, somewhat grudgingly, the other night. One of the weekly tasks she has for spelling homework is to write something like a letter, story or definitions of some of the spelling words in her journal. She has become a little bored with doing this, and has taken to begging us to let her do something easier, like spelling the words using different colored vowels and consonants. As much as we try to tell her that we think it would be better to show the teacher she knows what the words mean and how to use them, she keeps trying to get us to approve something that won't make her think.
So this week, getting frustrated with what has become a weekly discussion, I noticed one of her spelling words was "divine." "Hey," I asked, "do you know what that word means?"
"No. And I don't care."
"Hmmm. It actually has a few different meanings... Hey, there's a story about Grandma Schlosser's blueberry pie in the family cookbook. You want to read it with me?"
"Yeah!"
I went to the bookshelf full of cookbooks, and found my copy of "the taste of home: a hoosier heritage." My cousin is a chef in Oregon, and way back in 1992, just after our great grandmother's 101st birthday, she compiled a book full of family recipes contributed by numerous "good cookers and good eaters" in the family. It is usually the book I turn to first when I am looking for something fairly simple to make and that will just hit the spot and taste good.
My mother's side of the family have always been good bakers. There was probably never a family meal that did not involved at least 2 kinds of homemade pie. And while my Grandma Schlosser's apple pies were legendary and always a favorite, her blueberry pie earned its own place in the family history, which my daughter was thrilled to learn. As my cousin explains in the book:
We all fondly remember the day when our friends from Georgia, Charles Cobb, Sammy Foster, and John Hutchins, came to Grandma Straub's house to visit. After the meal, Charles started eating a slice of Grandma Schlosser's blueberry pie, and asked (in his beautiful Southern drawl), "Who made this blueberry pie? It's DEE-VINE!" Well, we all cracked up, Grandma blushed, Charles got a second piece of pie, and it's been called "Divine" Blueberry Pie ever since!
"So what does 'divine' mean," I asked?
"It means delicious!"
Thanks, Sigrid, and thanks, Grandma!